Page 15 of Keeping Sarah (Planet Orhon #3)

CHAPTER 15

Deacon

A s my consort and companion readied for the journey, I consulted with Omen privately near my ship. “You are certain this is the only way?”

“It’s the only way that I know,” she said. “That’s not to say that it’s the only way.”

“Who else would know of an alternative?” I asked, hoping for other options.

“Mother Portend might have.” Her voice went flat. “She was an expert on possession.”

I closed my eyes and when I tipped my head backward, it clunked against Allegiant . Of course. Mother Portend, who tried to kill us all and whom Sarah had killed. “Splendid.”

“I know.” Omen kicked absently at the dirt on the ground. “She would have loved the irony of being the only person who could save Sarah.”

I tamped down my aggravation. “Portend aside, does anyone else spring to mind?”

“Deacon, I would not have suggested seeking magicians lightly. I’ve slaughtered several myself. I know how dangerous they are. But…” Her attention was divided between myself and my union coming to join us. Quietly, she said, “There are no other options, to my knowledge.”

Then she plastered a beatific smile on her face for Sarah and Jac. “Good evening. Are you prepared to go?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Sarah said with a pained smile before she boarded Allegiant .

Jac glanced at Omen. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? We could use someone with your skills for this trip.”

Omen shook her head. “For my queen to stand a chance of a magician helping her, she does not need him distracted by my presence.”

“You could stay on the ship, as backup,” I suggested.

“Since we conduits took it upon ourselves to mercilessly hunt them down, magicians have taken to setting up perimeters of magic, some trick we don’t know and cannot sense, and those perimeters signal when conduits are around.” Omen appeared a little confounded after saying that. “Honestly, I’m not sure how she met a magician without him knowing what she is.”

I thought about that, as well. “Perhaps it is because she is the contra. He may not have known, or he could have seen her as a potential ally, since the contra was supposed to take away the conduits’ power.”

“Maybe.” She considered that. “Or he knew exactly what she was, and he wanted to have some fun with her because of it. Whatever happens, don’t let her out of your sight. Ever .”

“That won’t be a problem,” Jac said as he walked up the onramp.

“We will keep her safe, Omen,” I promised her. “Rest assured.”

She mumbled, “I will not rest until my queen is whole again.”

I know the feeling .

I went to the cockpit, where Sarah was sitting with Drift. I gave Drift his orders to pilot Allegiant wherever Sarah told him to go to find the magician, then left for the café where Jac sat with a cup of water with herbs.

I smiled when I saw him. “Not banwine?”

His lips pursed. “I want to be completely sober when we deal with this guy.”

“That is a good idea, though banwine might soften the blow of having to humble ourselves to one of them.” We lifted off, and I ordered the same beverage from the replicator and sat with him. “You do recognize this is a gamble, yes?”

His violet eyes snapped to mine. “I’m not stupid, Deacon.”

“I never—"

“Yes, you did,” he said harshly. “If you actually think you needed to ask that question, then you think I’m stupid.”

I huffed out a breath and tried to think of what to say. “I do not.”

“Then why ask it?” His gaze narrowed on me as he took a drink from his cup.

“Because…I do not know. Perhaps I hoped you had come up with another plan or it would trigger the thought of another option…” I dragged a hand along my jaw, hating how helpless I felt. “Maybe I had hoped it would make me think of another solution. To be honest, I think I was asking myself the question.”

He frowned. Even when he frowned, he did it handsomely. I was fortunate to have him for my companion—he was far better looking than I was. Less polished, perhaps, but more rugged and masculine. And it came naturally to him. I could tan, lift weights and build my body, but I could never match his raw maleness.

I had made my peace with those differences when we were younger, though my own jealousy did spark now and then. It was a good reminder to not let my body get too soft.

Jac asked, “What are you thinking?”

I smiled at him. “Just how lucky I am to have you.”

The corner of his mouth pinched upward. “You’re trying to distract me from what we’re about to do, aren’t you?”

“Is that so bad?” I stroked his thigh beneath the table.

“Your timing could not be worse,” he said, not unkindly.

Knowing that was true, I withdrew my hand. “What is wrong now?”

“We’re going to ask a magician for help, Deacon,” he said gruffly. “Does there need to be more?”

“I suppose not.” I sipped my water with herbs and sighed. “I am , though.”

He stared at me in confusion. “You are what?”

“Lucky to have you.”

Jac half-chuckled and shook his head. “ I’m the lucky one. Look at you.”

I grinned, enjoying the lightened moment, even if it was only temporary. “I cannot. I am too busy looking at you.”

“Should I guess by the laughter that seeing a magician isn’t as bad as Omen made it out to be?” Sarah asked as she walked into the café and sat with us.

“No,” Jac said, his expression back to being serious. “It’s terrifying and we are trying to find ways to distract ourselves by flirting.”

“Ah.” Sarah nodded thoughtfully. “Hopefully, the magician will sense what’s wrong, kick Rex’s remnant out of my body to help his friend, and we’ll be off before he decides he wants more of my blood or hair—"

“ What ?” Horror stiffened my spine.

“This guy helped me when I was with Rex. Helped us , I mean,” she explained. “He thought Rex had full control of me and was doing what ghosts do with the living. He helped us get back to Rex’s manor with magic. The cost was some of my blood and hair.”

“I thought you said they were friendly,” Jac pointed out in a low growl.

“They were—the price of help almost seemed like a matter of courtesy or protocol, I dunno.” She shrugged, seemingly unconcerned while Jac and I were beside ourselves with this new revelation. “So, there’s a chance he might want something like that again, which I’m fine with, but I don’t want him asking for anything of yours.”

I held a hand up for her to quiet down. “Consort, we will give him whatever he wants, if it will fix you.”

Jac nodded in agreement, though he did not look happy about what had already transpired between Sarah and the magician. “Literally anything.”

She bit her lower lip. “You’re both being very sweet about all of this, but I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You are not asking,” I said firmly. “We are telling you that this is what we will do. I do not care what he wants. I will get it for him or give it to him, if it is something of my own.”

She glanced from me, to Jac. “I don’t…I don’t want anyone else hurt because of me,” she said in a trembling voice. “Don’t you guys get that? This is all my fault.”

My heart wrenched in my chest. “What are you talking about?”

She made a sound of frustration. “If I knew more about what I am, or what I’m capable of, if I had a better understanding of my powers—"

“You are amazing,” I said, cutting her off and settling my hand over hers on the table. “You have been—"

“If I were smarter , then I wouldn’t be fucking up all the time!” she barked and abruptly stood up, anger vibrating off her. “That’s the problem, Deacon. I am terrible at my job, because I should be smarter than I am, and I’m not, so I keep fucking up and getting people killed, which means this is all my fault. Stop trying to act like it’s not, because I might not be smart, but I am intelligent enough to know that much!”

We watched her stomp from the café, and when she was gone, I turned to Jac, gutted by what I’d just heard.

“What did I say wrong?”

Jac shifted in his seat. “I don’t think you said anything wrong. I think she’s scared she’s going to get us hurt when we see the magician.”

“I will go speak with her—"

“Don’t,” he said, stopping me before I could stand and he straightened to his own feet. “Let me.”

“Why you?” I looked up at him. “I am the one with whom she is angry.”

“Exactly. Which means whatever argument she’s working on in her head right now won’t work with me. Hopefully, I can diffuse her anger before she sees you again.”

I smiled in gratitude. “Truly, I do not deserve you.”

He winked at me. “Never forget it.”

I chuckled as he left the café and watched the trees go by out the windows. Night had fallen, so the trees were a dark blur outside. Peering upward, the stars glittered above. When I was a child, I had hoped to visit the stars. I told my parents, and they had smiled, as though I was being adorable. They did not know I was serious, but no one told me the stars were searing gasses and plasma which would have burned me alive, had I gotten too close. I was horrified to learn I would never succeed in my goal of visiting the stars. At age four, my astronomy professor had to deal with my disappointed bawling, the poor man.

I stretched my legs out and dozed on the padded bench in the café, while the stars stared back at me. I did not wake until Allegiant parked. When I saw Sarah once more, she was in a far better mood as I tentatively approached her. Jac had patched things, it seemed.

Drift wished us speed and luck, as we left him behind to keep the ship ready to flee. We used Allegiant’s onworlder as transport through the forest, until the underbrush became too thick to drive over, then we began to walk. After an hour, we found the cave she recalled.

“There,” she said, pointing in the direction. “The blue smoke, like last time.”

Those wispy tendrils seemed to hover just outside of the cave, which I found odd. “Why does the smoke not travel upward?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” she said, glancing at the two of us. “Are you ready for this?”

“For dealing with a magician?” I suppressed a shudder as I shook my head. “Never. Let’s go.”

The three of us entered the strange cave. Colorful pillows lined the walls and devotional candles sat interspersed with them. The innermost area of the cave was large and lit by a single fire in the middle. Every step forward felt like a future regret. Each hair on my body stood on end as we walked deeper into the dwelling.

Sarah called out, “Hello?”

“Rex, is that you? Let me put on my face,” a man responded.

Put on his face? The fuck?

As he walked around the corner toward us, he pressed his fingers against his face, like it was a mask of some kind, shooting up my anxiety tenfold. It briefly slipped around his mouth, nose, and eyes, until he had it settled into place.

One black eye, one white, both disconcerting. He was tall and thin, and set every nerve in my body on edge when he looked at me.

When he saw Sarah, he smiled, and his smile was even more unsettling than when he had put his face on. “You brought friends, Rex, how nice,” he said jovially. “Did you come to let me have a go at her? Or them?”

Jac’s fist balled at his sides, anger vibrating off him, but he said nothing.

Sarah stepped forward. “Tolkabern, Rex is not with us.”

His weird black and white eyes narrowed on her. “And yet you come to me anyway? Am I to understand you seek retribution for the blood and hair?”

“No,” she said, lifting her chin high. “It was Rex who allowed that to happen. I’ll take that up with him. What I am here for is…I need your help.”

He laughed, the sound more than a little deviant. “The contra needs my help? This is a delicious evening.”

Fuck. He knows what she is. This is not good. We need to leave.

Sarah continued. “I have separated from Rex, but I feel like there is still something wrong with me—like he’s still in me. I’ve heard that ghosts can leave remnants behind. Is that something you can help me with?”

He smirked with superiority. “I could, but I will not.”

“Why not?” I asked before she could.

He looked at me like he was surprised I had a mouth to speak. “I believed you to be her servant.”

I ignored his remark. “Why will you not help her?” I asked again.

“Because, servant ,” he sneered. “I want things she would not give me.”

“Name your price,” Jac growled.

“Oh,” the magician scoffed. “ Two talking servants? You are a peculiar contra, indeed.”

“You say that like there is more than one contra,” Sarah said defensively.

“Mmm,” he purred, his two eyes looking her up and down in a way I did not like. “Did you really believe you are the first contra?”

We all looked at each other, before she glanced back at him and said, “Well, yes.”

He laughed heartily. “Each era of conduits gets a contra. It’s not in their holy texts, but there is a great deal of life that is not in those books. I should think they would have learned that by now. Truly, your people should expand their repertoire.”

“All of that aside,” I said, trying to keep my tone even, “what is it you would ask of the contra that she would not pay?”

This time, those eyes ran up and down my body. “You.”

Revulsion immediately clenched in my stomach. “Me?”

He shifted his sly gaze to Jac. “And him.”

Jac’s entire body tensed. “Come again?”

“The payment is quite simple, actually,” he said in a cunning tone. “I would have the both of you in my bed.”

“Absolutely not !” Sarah blurted.

Black and white eyes snapped back to Sarah. “And that is why you will live with the remnant eating your soul, Contra. I wish you the best of luck, destroying the conduits.” He nodded his head and began to walk away.

My heart pounded so hard, I thought I would die, but I had to ask it anyway. “A compromise, magician?”

He stopped and turned back around, tipping his head to the side. “I’m listening.”

“You can have me and him in your bed—"

“No, he can’t!” Sarah interrupted me in a panic. “I won’t allow it.”

I forced myself to blot out her refusal for the greater good, I hoped. “But only me and him. You can watch us. But that is all.”

Tolkabern’s frightening eyes darted to each of us. “That is precisely what I wanted. How is this a compromise?”

Sarah said, “You said you wanted to have them in your bed.”

“Yes, so I might watch—wait, you thought I wanted to…” he laughed. “No, no, no, no, my pleasure is in the watching, not the doing.”

That was a relief, at least. I took Jac aside to check in with him. “I know I spoke for the both of us. Are you okay with this?”

His jaw clenched, determination etching his features. “Whatever it takes, Deacon.” He pulled his shirt off.

Sarah came up to us, putting a hand on each of our arms. “Guys, as much as I appreciate this, it’s not necessary. You don’t have to do this—"

“Yes, we do.” I took Jac’s hand and led him to the magician’s bed of cushions, before I glanced back at the other man and asked him, “Here?”

“Yes.” He nodded, bright perversion flickering in his eyes. “You will find a selection of oils to ease your circumstances for one another next to the red pillow.”

Exhaling a deep breath, I turned to Jac, needing to reassure him in that moment. “I love you.”

His expression was fierce, and filled with resolve. “I love you, too, Deacon.”

I bent down and kissed him, as we stripped away the rest of our clothes.

While we made out to get our arousal flowing, I heard the magician ask Sarah, “What are they doing?”

“Kissing. It’s a human thing,” she explained.

“I know what kissing is, Contra,” he drawled. “I meant why the declaration of love prior to their coupling?”

“The three of us love each other very much,” she said softly, the reverence in her tone unmistakable. “We are a union.”

The magician scoffed. “I did not agree to that .”

“How do you mean?” she asked.

He made a sound of annoyance. “I had thought your servants did not appreciate the male form, that I was making them do something they did not want to do in exchange for doing something I did not want to do. A compromise, indeed!”

Hope jolted through me, and I stopped kissing Jac and glanced back at Tolkabern. “Does this mean the deal is off?”

“Hardly. I am a man of my word.” He waved a hand at us. “Continue.”

Jac was nude, and soon, I was, too. I laid him onto the cushions, kissing down his body. His pleasure sounds were muted, so very unlike him. I looked up and saw his angry gaze was on the magician. I climbed back up him and turned his head so he had no choice but to focus on me. On us.

“Ignore him. If we weren’t doing this here, we would be doing this back home.” Without an outsider watching, of course, but that was beside the point. “Remember the time we were camping when we were almost twenty, and the rainstorm sacked our tent?”

Jac laughed, distracted, just as I’d intended. “I haven’t thought of that in years. What a crazy night.”

“And we ended up in that cave, much like we are now.” I locked onto his violet eyes, so full of memories. “This is just like that night. Me and you.”

He nodded and ran his fingers through my hair, so I started to lick and bite and suck my way down him again. When I reached his cock, he was already hard for me. I licked along his shaft before I took him deep into my mouth. He sucked air through his teeth, sounding like a hiss. Then he groaned loudly, as my head moved up and down his stiff length.

Grabbing one of the nearby oils, I doused my fingers before I worked them into his ass. Jac’s body jumped and jerked and he grabbed a fistful of my hair. His grunts and groans of pleasure poured through the cave, echoing on forever.

“They are stunning together, are they not?” I heard the magician say, a surprising amount of awe in his voice.

Sarah’s voice was soft and filled with devotion when she spoke. “One of the many reasons I love them, and I wish to be whole for them.”

“Understandable.”

Jac suddenly gasped. “The oil…tingles.”

I licked all the way up him, then asked, “Good or bad?”

“Fuck,” he growled, shifting restlessly beneath me. “ Very good.”

I grinned at him as I slicked my cock with the oil, then his, before I pressed myself against his ass. I sucked in a quick breath, too, as the tingling hit rather fast. A cold and hot sensation prickled to life and made me wish for a bottle of the magical oil to take home.

Everything was heightened, and as I penetrated my companion, an astounding blissful feeling took control. I leaned down to him, but kept a hand fisted on his cock, stroking him between us. Our kisses were rabid, and I could not contain myself as I slammed into his ass.

Lost in pleasure, he snarled against my lips, demanding more. I loved making his eyes flutter backward with every driving thrust. The fit between us was suddenly electric and Jac roared, “Fuck, now!”

I gripped him tighter, jerking his cock harder in my grasp, and he shot onto his chest and shoulders. Just as my own orgasm crested, I pulled out, combining my mess with his, our wild animal sounds mingling. We shared panting breaths as we recovered, then I wiped us each down with a random cloth nearby, hoping it was of no importance to our host. Not that I really gave a fuck if it was.

Once our show was over, I turned our attention to our audience, only to find that it was only Tolkabern who watched. Our companion was nowhere to be found. Foreboding slithered up my spine.

“Where is Sarah?” I demanded.

The magician looked at where she had been standing beside him just a short while ago. “That is an excellent question. Contra?” He peeked beyond the corner, then he glanced back at us. “That is odd. She’s not here.”

Jac sprang out from under me and ran full speed at the magician, fury radiating off him. “What did you do to her?” he roared.

But the magician lifted his hand, and Jac immediately fell to his knees near the fire. He writhed in pain on the cave floor, but no sound came from his mouth. I stared at the scene playing out before me, horrified.

“Do not rush at me, boy,” the magician snapped. “I do not know where your contra has gone.”

I got up and strode toward Tolkabern far more slowly. He was angry and I did not want his ire to worsen whatever he had done to Jac. As calmly as I could manage considering my heart was in my throat, I asked, “Where could she have gone?”

“There is no exit from this end of my cave, aside from…” he rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Oh, bother.”

“What?” I demanded.

He shrugged. “She may have taken the portal to Rex’s manor.”

“ What? ” I hissed, not believing what he’d just said.

The magician gestured to a framed space on the cave wall. It was blurry, but also moved. He walked to it and put his hand on the frame, like he was listening to it. “Yes, that’s where she has gone.”

I was half-dressed before I asked Tolkabern, “It will take us directly there?”

“No.” He gave me an odd look. “Don’t you know anything about portals?”

I jerked on the rest of my uniform. “I am afraid not.”

“You there, dress yourself.” He waved his hand at Jac, releasing the hold he’d had over him.

Jac stumbled back to his feet, gasping in pain. Much slower than I, wincing in agony, he began to get dressed.

The magician looked at me. “Portals are strong magic. Strong magic must be recharged. The portal will not work again until midnight tomorrow at the soonest.”

My brain could barely process that thought, that we would not be able to reach Sarah for an entire night and day. That she’d once again be in Rex’s clutches and there was nothing we could do to protect her.

With a feral growl, Jac ran at the magician again, but this time, he did not make it three steps before he was writhing in pain on the cave floor, just like before. I hated to see him so tortured, but this time, I was also annoyed with him for being so rash.

Helplessly, I watched him twitch and groan from whatever hold Tolkabern had over him. “Fuck, Jac, you knew better than to do that.”

Tolkabern laughed in amusement. “Yes, he did. But he is a man in love and those are not particularly logical, as I am sure you know.”

Fuck being rash, I moved to sucker punch the magician, quickly striking out at him.

He laughed again, the sound horrifically evil, as his eyes cowed me to the ground in pain with just a look. It sizzled through my veins, like a million slices of my insides shredding apart.

“You are both men in love and equally foolish,” he gloated, unweaving whatever spell he’d cast over us with a wave of his hand. “Go now, or your pain will grow. I am tired of your tomfoolery.”

We crawled from his cave and at the mouth of it, the pain stopped reverberating through my body. As soon as I took a step toward the cave, the pain came back, the excruciating discomfort nearly bringing me to my knees.

Jac grabbed my hand and led me to the onworlder. “Come on. We can’t waste time with that guy. We have to get to Faithless and rescue Sarah from Rex. Again.”